“People are always blaming circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get ahead in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.”
~George Bernard Shaw~
Weight lost in the last 30 days; 4.4 lbs
Inches lost in the last 30 days; 3.75 inches
It's always so easy to move forward when things in life are going according to plan. The real challenge comes along when circumstances are less than ideal. We need to remain flexible, we need to be able to bend those less-than-perfect situations back in the right direction so we can continue on. For weight loss, there is always something that comes up and attempts to throw us off our meal plan or exercise schedule; a holiday celebration, or a vacation, a birthday, family coming to visit, etc. In my case, this month we were challenged with hormones, travelling and germs. Still, I had a few small victories.
Around the middle of the month I took my son to Maryland with me to visit my family while I was fighting off a head cold. It was Friday evening, we were starving, and I broke my rule (no eating in the car) and gave him some crackers to tide him over. We were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic and I guess the stop-and-go motion must have gotten to him because I looked back and he vomited all over himself. And I was trapped! With nowhere to go because traffic wasn't moving. It took about 15 minutes before I could even get across the 4 lanes of traffic to pull over and clean him up. He was so upset, I was upset, we were tired and starving (still, even after the puking), and still had about 30 minutes till we could get to my mother's. If this was 6 months ago (ok, 3 months ago) I would have told myself "Just get something quick for dinner, you've had a rough evening, you can give yourself the night off of eating healthy." I would have then proceeded to stock up on whatever my unhealthy comfort foods were (most likely Roy Rogers since we don't have any here) and then felt guilty about it for the rest of the night.
But this was not 3 months ago.
When I got to my mom's house they wanted to go out to dinner. Since I had a child with puke stains on him, I declined and sent them on without us. I gave Grayson his bath and a snack, then started rummaging in Mom's fridge and pantry to find a healthy option for dinner. I knew I needed to think this though since we were going out to dinner the following night and lunch the following day. I ended up with sauteed kale and an individual pot-roast from Schwan's. I wasn't too thrilled with the pot-roast because it was so salty, but it was a better option than a Gold Rush Chicken Sandwich from Roy's! As for the rest of the weekend, I studied the menus of the restaurants like I was going to be tested on them. I did better than I thought. But my head cold had progressed and I missed my Saturday workout and slept most of the day on Sunday. I came home with new motivation.
Grayson then got sick, which meant no sleep for mommy and daddy, but we didn't miss a workout. Then I got sick again. I rested and missed a workout. My weight loss slowed. Then PMS rolled around. I've been off the pill since August, and this time PMS has been about 3 times as bad as it once was. Nevertheless, I got back in the gym, kept my water intake high, but I felt like if I didn't have a cheeseburger soon someone was going to get hurt. So finally, two days ago I caved. I got it out of my system and I feel better, but the results are on the scale. I've fallen behind.
I'm not writing all this to complain. I know that 4 pounds lost is still 4 pounds lost. I'm still headed in the right direction, even if I'm inching my way slowly. I've been able to recognize bad habits and attempt to change them before I get carried away. I've broken my chip habit, stopped drinking all diet soda / artificial sweeteners, and upped my water intake. I'm still going. I can't give up anymore.
“A difficult time can be more readily endured if we retain the conviction that our existence holds a purpose – a cause to pursue, a person to love, a goal to achieve.”
- John Maxwell
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